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Character Formatting Guide
For the sake of consistency, it is recommended that character bios follow an established set of formatting guidelines. The introductory paragraph(s) (the ones preceeding the Table of Contents) should give a brief summary of the character, explaining his/her role and identity in the Shifting Worlds saga as a whole, important information about the character's life and relationships, and his/her most noteworthy achievements. Ideally, only one or two paragraphs should be used to describe the character; any paragraphs after the first should be devoted to summarizing the most significant and prominent event in the character's life (for example, if the character temporarily changes moral alignments or when something impacts the character so much that it significantly changes his/her personality and/or importance in the Crossroad's Saga). Also be sure to name the user(s) who owns/controls the character in one of the first sentences of the page. If the number of users who control the character is enough to warrant its own paragraph, the paragraph should be the last of the introductory paragraphs. History The first major section of the character's page should be his/her history. When describing the character's past, start from the beginning and explain his/her history in chronological order if at all possible. Prioritize any significant events that shape the character's personality, result in his/her arrival in wherever their primary residence is, or plays a role in the entire Shifting World's saga as a whole; however, try to avoid making any connections to the character's traits until the Personality section. The length of this section will depend on how detailed the character's history is, though more often than not it will be the largest section of the page. A main character will likely have a rather lengthy History page, while a side character's may only require a few paragraphs. As there are many alternate universes and continuities, the opening paragraphs in the character's History section should explain the events of a character's past which applies to all versions of him/her; once the histories of the character start to split, then employ categories to explain the different continuities. if there are events which apply to most, but not all, of the character's alternate history, then specify any exceptions in the applicable continuity categories. Primary Continuity Split The first continuity split should be devoted to the largest and/or most significant continuity. The main continuity will normally be the one for which the character was made, though this does not necessarily have to be the case. Significant Event in Continuity Within a continuity category, it is good practice to break down the character's history by sub-categories for the sake of organization and ease of reading. It's recommended that the continuity's history be divided based off of the length and/or significance of one or more events. This applies to any continuity section, though its length will dictate whether or not sub-categories are necessary Secondary Continuity Split The second-listed continuity split should be the second-biggest continuity in regards to the character's contributions and importance. Any other continuities which deserve special attention should also be listed in this way, which each successive category gradually decreasing in importance. Miscellaneous Continuity Splits Continuities which lack enough significance to warrant its own category should be grouped together in a single, all-encompassing category. Personality and Traits After the character's History, it's a good idea to describe the character him/herself, both in terms of appearance and personality. First, specify the character's bodily appearance (hair, eyes, height, etc.) before describing the primary clothes he/she wears. Next, list any other notable outfits, whether it be an occasional or one-time change (it's best if any one-time apparel changes coincide with a significant event). Any appearance changes as a result of an ability or power amplifier, both from the character him/herself or an outside source, will come next. Non-canon and alternate appearances can also be listed, but should not be listed under a separate category if they are. After the character's look is taken care of, move on to describe his/her personality. Start of by talking about the traits which define the character and dictate most of his/her actions, and any changes/developments to these traits if applicable. Each subsequent paragraph should detail traits of either equal or lesser influence towards the character's actions, with the final paragraph listing a character's habits which make the character stand out, yet provide little to no influence over a character's important actions and decisions. For example, a character's tendency to crack jokes is a pretty significant habit when it come's to the character personality, but it likely wouldn't lead to any life-changing decisions unless the character took on stand-up comedy as a profession. Typically, this section will not require its own set of categories. Skills and Abilities After Personality, devote a section to describe the character's skills and abilities, both in and out of combat. These abilities can include his/her talents, melee and magic abilities, tactical fighting skills, and any hobbies the character has. Try not to split this section into categories; instead, when moving combat to non-combat abilities (and vice-versa), specify as such in the beginning of the paragraph (i.e., "When outside of combat...). Weapons and Combat Gear Naturally following Skills and Abilities should be a description of any weapons and items that assist the character in combat. The character's primary weapon of choice should be the first one to be listed, followed by any other weapons the character uses or has used in the past. Next, describe any miscellaneous weapons that the character will use while in combat (Spell Cards and things such as grenades typically fall under this category unless they're the character's primary weapon). Weaknesses and Flaws Describe the character's weaknesses. Physical weaknesses, combat weaknesses, caveats to the useage of the character's skills and weapons, and even weaknesses resulting from a character's personality flaws can be listed here. If a character has a personality flaw that has a major impact on the character's story and development as a whole (i.e., the character's rashness leads to his hometown's destruction), then that flaw automatically takes precedence and should be the first thing listed in this category. Otherwise, start off with combat weaknesses before moving into personality flaws. Relationships After everything about him/herself, the character's relationships and interactions with others help to define him/her. Relationship categories can be divided into groups of people (friends, family, enemies, etc.); however, do not devote a category to a specific person, no matter how important that person is. When listing a person and the chracter's relationship to him/her, write the person's name in 'bold '''and provide a link to the person's profile within the name. Place a hyphen (-) to the right of the person's name, with a space in between the name and hyphen, followed by a summary of the relationship between the character and person, again with a space between the hyphen and summary. Made sure that there is spacing between individually listed people so as to avoid confusion. Design and Influence After defining the character themself and they exist in the world(s), then list some design inspirations. What made the author create this character? What influences did they draw from? Also feel free to describe their functional role in a story, what purpose they serve in a narrative, if any. Appearances *Next, list the roleplays and gaidens that the character has an active role or makes a physical appearance in the story. *Do not contain any paragraphs in this section; instead, use bullet points to distinguish each individual story. *Italicize the name of the listed story, and provide a link to its wiki page. To the right and in parenthesis, indicate whether the story is a roleplay or gaiden, followed by a list of the significant role(s) that the character has played. The parenthesis and everything within them should be unitalicized, with the story type indication separated from the role listing with a semicolon and individual roles separated with commas *Roleplays and gaidens should be listed in chronological order, and roles listed in the order the character assumed those roles in the story (if the character was a side character before becoming a protagonist, place "side character" before "protagonist"). *A character can be considered to be in a story only if he/she makes a physical appearance or plays an active role in the story. ''The following is an example of how to properly organize this section: *''Roleplay #1'' (roleplay; protagonist) *''Roleplay #2'' (roleplay; deuteragonist) *''Gaiden #1'' (gaiden; antagonist, protagonist) Quotes *List any notable sayings that the character has made. These quotes should exemplify his/her characteristics, strongly stating their beliefs and positions, or just being all-around significant and impacting. *Again, this section should use only bullet points. *Surround the character's phrases and sayings with quote marks ("), and list the roleplay and page number (if possible) that the quote appears in, providing an outsource link to the specific post within the reference (again, if possible). *When quoting from large speeches, try to isolate key parts by using ellipses (...) to omit unwanted sections of the speech. Trivia *Miscellaneous factoids that don't belong in any of the other sections (creation of the character, references, and other amusing facts) go here. *As with Quotes and Roleplays, use bullet points to list individual facts of the character. **Use indented bullet points when commenting on a listed factoid in some way. ***You can indent the bullet points further when commenting on a comment on a listed factoid. Try not to indent any more than two spaces, however. *Until copyright matters are squared away, do not post any photos of the character unless you either have permission to do so, or have drawn the picture yourself. This also goes for any music associated with the character. *Some characters may have such little detail revealed about one section or another that it may not be worth including. As a general rule of thumb, the most important sections to include are History and Personality and Traits, with Skills and Abilities being the second-most important section along with Weaknesses and Flaws. Weapons and Gear can be ommitted only if the character uses no equipment during battle, and Appearances Category:Guidelines Category:Formatting